What happened at the Olympic Esports Forum on the weekend?

News -
26 Jul 2018

Representatives
of the esports industry gathered with the International Olympic
Committee (IOC) and the Global Association of International Sports Federations
(GAISF) last weekend, to discuss possible future engagement between esports and
the Olympics.

What happened at the
event and what can we learn from it? Here are some key takeaways from the
Esports Forum at the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland.

There’s been some chatter for a while about esports
possibly being included in the Olympic Games in some form in the future.

So hosting this event allowed the IOC and GAISF – as well
as international sports federations and athletes – to actually engage with the
esports industry and discuss it.

There was a range of esports industry representation at the
event, from players to publishers, tournament organisers and more, including
some British talent.

Team Dignitas founder and general manager Michael “Odee”
O’Dell was there, as was British Esports’ founder Chester King, FIFA
commentator Brandon Smith and more in attendance.

Rick Fox, the former professional basketball player and now
owner of esports franchise Echo Fox, was the forum host and moderator.

Elsewhere, ahead of the event, Manchester City FIFA player Kai
'deto' Wollin and Houston Outlaws Overwatch player Jacob "Jake" Lyon
spoke at length to IOC President Thomas Bach about their profession and gave a
demonstration of their respective games.

There were talks and panels on esports being accepted into
the Asian Games, opportunities for collaboration between esports and the
Olympics, gender equality in sports, as well as roundtable discussions on
investment, the players’ perspective, reaching fans via broadcasting and the
media and more.

“Women make up about 25% of the esports player base, so why aren’t they in the top?” asked PMS Clan founder and director at Twitch, Amber Dalton, as reported by the Esports Observer. “The fact is boys start much, much earlier. I believe if we can get girls early, playing as long as boys do, we’ll get women playing. Women and girls simply aren’t getting that exposure. We need amateur leagues to build them up for pro events later.”

Bill Sweeney, CEO of the
British Olympic Association, said:"It's
understandable that the IOC should want to explore the significant growth of
esports amongst a sizeable proportion of the global population. Anything that
engages young people in the way esports is doing justifies a debate rather than
simply being ignored - for example, are there links and triggers that can also
encourage participation in traditional sports and what potential mental and
social benefits might exist in a carefully regulated and structured
environment?

“We need to understand the impact esports has
and can have moving forward so that we can have a meaningful and informed
debate about the risks and opportunities that this growing sector
represents."

Following the Forum, the IOC and the GAISF will now
establish an
Esports Liaison Group to
continue communication and engagement between the Olympic Movement and esports
and gaming stakeholders, in a bid to ‘identify areas of potential
collaboration’.

The IOC will invite members of the new Esports Liaison Group
to present at the Olympism in Action Forum in Buenos Aires in October and other
events. The IOC president Thomas Bach will also put esports on the agenda for
the next Olympic Summit to be held in December 2018.

IOC Sports Director Kit McConnell added: “The Esports Forum
was a unique opportunity to hear from a wide variety of stakeholders, including
some of the top players themselves. There was a consensus that future
collaboration will be based on ensuring that any activity supports and
promotes the Olympic values; and while the goal was not to develop a pathway
towards the inclusion of esports on the Olympic programme, we have a strong
plan for ongoing dialogue and engagement, and are in a strong position to
coordinate and support the wider engagement of the Olympic Movement with
esports.”